Wooten Elected Regents Vice Chair
Atlanta — June 11, 2003
Joel O. Wooten Jr.
Regent Joel O. Wooten Jr. today was elected to a one-year term as vice chair of the Board of Regents, the 18-member governing body for the University System of Georgia.
Wooten, who was appointed to the board by Gov. Roy E. Barnes in 1999, will serve as the board’s vice chair from July 1, 2003, through June 30, 2004.
“I am proud to take a position of leadership on the Board of Regents and in higher education in the state of Georgia,” Wooten said. “I consider these responsibilities highly important.”
Wooten is an attorney and has served as the managing partner at Butler, Wooten, Fryhofer, Daughtry & Sullivan, LLP, a law firm with offices in Columbus and Atlanta, since 1988. Before that, Wooten spent 10 years as a partner at the law firm of Kelly, Denney, Pease & Allison in Columbus. He was an associate at this firm from 1975 to 1978.
In addition to serving on the Board of Regents, Wooten has served as a member of the board of directors of Georgia Legal Services, Inc., and he was a founding member and on the board of directors of the Georgia Center for Law in the Public Interest. He is a past president of the Columbus Lawyers Club and a former chair and member of the executive committee of the General Practice and Trial Section of the State Bar of Georgia.
In 2000, the State Bar honored Wooten with its Tradition of Excellence Award for outstanding service to the Bar and the state of Georgia.
Raised in Hazlehurst, Ga., Wooten graduated from the University of Georgia magna cum laude in 1972, with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He earned a law degree from the UGA School of Law in 1975.
Wooten and his wife, Sybrina, live in Columbus. His oldest son, Joel III, is a graduate of Georgia Tech. His daughter, Katherine, and son, Frank, both are students at the University of Georgia.
The Board of Regents is a constitutional body that governs and manages the University System of Georgia, comprised of 34 public colleges and universities. Currently, more than 233,000 students are enrolled in System institutions and there are approximately 35,000 faculty and staff.
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